


The Girl Who Has No Interest in Anything

by serencillata



Category: Original Work
Genre: Cisgender, Female Protagonist, Gen, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 19:35:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9087172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serencillata/pseuds/serencillata
Summary: In the world, only the United States of America actually has superheroes and supervillains. Even if they exist elsewhere in the world, they all gravitate to USA in the end. Every super powered being is concentrated there, and the country idolises them for merely existing.Galina’s only fifteen. She wants to be an author, maybe. Or an artist.





	

**Author's Note:**

> An original story I wrote some time ago; it was originally inspired by all of the teenage heroes in Marvel who are forced to be heroes, because of circumstance and such.

Worn sneakers pad along mud, bright green hair marginally darker with the downpour of rain and hanging heavy around her like thick curtains, and she stares ahead and ignores the discomfort sinking in from walking in the freezing onslaught of rain.

She grabs the straps of her backpack tightly, her head bowed and eyes ignoring the gaze of anyone who looks at her curiously for her radioactive hair, for the way she exhales smoke and stares ahead with a glowing golden gaze.

The stares don’t bother her, they never have and they never will. Sinking deep in her belly isn’t the discomfort and self-consciousness that follows intense scrutiny and awe, no. Sinking deep in her belly, instead, is the deep-seated agitation at having to deal with the wonderment every day. She walks past posters of superheroes on her way to school, wet and ridiculous, and – not once – Galina wonders what she’s going to have to eat this afternoon.

She didn’t bring anything with her – which, really, is her mistake. She thinks that if she has okroshka with her, at least she doesn’t have to heat it up or anything at the teacher’s lounge… the questions they ask Galina are always so annoying. She prefers to avoid them as best she can if possible.

Algebra is coming up in ten minutes, and Galina shifts at the thought of dealing with her nosy teacher. She ignores everyone that tries to talk to her and keeps her head bowing down, avoiding eye contact with the students that stare at her with both envy and confusion.

Immediately, she goes from soaked to dry once she is inside her school, her fingers shifting on the straps of her bag and she scratches at a pimple on her cheek. She goes to class, stands up for the national anthem like everyone else, and ignores it when her teacher tells her that Galina can simply sit this one out because it doesn’t seem appropriate for one of U.S’s future protectors to be reciting the anthem.

Not when he talks about how she has already sworn herself to it. She simply tunes him out, her thoughts drifting off – instead – on whether or not she should go and watch hockey with Michelle later. She doesn’t know anything about the sport but Michelle likes it well enough so when Galina sits down she shrugs.

She grabs her Scooby Doo pen, plays with Scooby Doo’s head at the very top of the pen before she opens up her notebook and writes today’s date down. Month first, day second, year last. She doesn’t pay attention when Mr. Miller starts explaining today, her eyes focusing on the rain outside.

“Galina,” Mr. Miller calls out. “Do you know how to solve the equation on the board?” He asks, accusatorily, and she doesn’t even look at the blackboard before she answers.

“No,” she says and she ignores the way Mr. Miller looks at her with wide-eyed surprise at her monotone answer. “Sorry, Mr. Miller.” Galina adds, insincerely, and her mind drifts off instead to thoughts of the sea, of how much she wishes that she can float indefinitely in the ocean.

She wants to take swimming classes, she decides, and Galina waits patiently for class to finish before she packs her mostly empty notebook into her backpack and she slips her pen into a small pocket in her bag before she leaves.

“Galina, can you wait a moment please?” Mr. Miller calls out to her, voice concerned, and she stops and goes back to him, eyes glowing dimly with disinterest and he looks up at her with his own normal ones. White-blue stares into pure, golden eyes and Galina blinks. “I’m sorry for pulling you aside but… Galina, have you thought much about your future?”

She shrugs. “That’s not an answer, Galina.” Mr. Miller says softly, like he has so many other times.

Galina shrugs again. Then, “no, Mr. Miller, I haven’t.” and, insincerely, “I’m sorry, Mr. Miller.” He frowns at her, but he doesn’t force her to stay and Galina turns around and leaves. Her sneakers are dirty, but they don’t leave behind any marks as she walks the school hallways.

She counts her steps, one after the other, and realises that she steps too far ahead with the right but not enough with the left. She tilts her head at the oddity of that but decides that she really doesn’t care.

History is next, anyway. Galina considers skipping the lesson on superheroes in the previous wars – she doesn’t even know the wars or the dates, but whatever – but decides that it’s not worth her mama’s upset at her skipping and goes to class anyway.

Ms. Scott is nice, but her voice is boring to listen to and she tunes her out. She rubs gloved fingers together; she wants to go to a science museum. Maybe Pike will come with her? Pike loves science as much as Galina does; maybe she’ll like to see some inventions with her. Maybe she’ll like whatever it is that past scientists have worked on.

The day goes by that way. Teachers trying to tell Galina the greatness of her powers, students staring at her or trying to start something with her – envy burns everyone, but when she looks at them and presses ungloved fingers to their skin they scream and leave.

Galina gets in trouble every time. She gets detention every time. She stares out the window of the classroom and watches the now sunny outside glow beautifully. There are puddles outside, and the moment she’s free she’s immediately jumping into them despite her old sneakers, despite her worn sneakers, and she kicks her leg up high in the air.

She looks at her fingernails, wonders if she has any blue nail polish left over, and she curls bitten nails into her palm before she heads back home to her mama, papa, and her brother and sisters. The next day is no different; she goes to school, but it doesn’t rain today. Mr. Miller stares at her in third period, a frown on his face, and Galina draws in her notebook instead of noting down any equations.

When is she ever going to need them, anyway? She wants to go to art school. She wants to be an author. Maybe. She still has three years left to decide. Twiddling her thumbs, Galina waits for the class to finish so that she can go to break, waits for it to end so that she can go to Pike and Maggie and listen to them talk.

“Do you wanna go to the science museum with me?” she asks them later, voice dull, and Pike looks at her eagerly while Maggie shakes her head. “I’ll text mama and tell her I won’t be home until later today.”

Maggie waves them off. “I’m going with Sam on a date tonight,” she says, as though needing to explain. Galina looks down at her own lap instead of Maggie, thumbs twiddling and eyes burning holes into her own clothes.

Metaphorically, not literally.

“G’luck.” Pike says, before she immediately starts talking to Maggie about something or another and Galina just listens. They talk about Drake, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. They talk about Beyoncé, about the latest Star Trek and Star Wars movies, about Luke Cage and about Daredevil, and Galina removes her gloves.

Her blue nail polish is pretty. She wants a darker colour, though; she’s not really feeling the whole light, sky blue on her nails. Maybe some other day, when Galina definitely feels like wearing lighter colours instead of dark ones. “Bye Maggie!” Pike says before long, and she smiles at Galina. “I gotta go, Lina, class starts in ten minutes.”

“Okay.” Galina says. She heads to class too, sits through sciences and actually pays attention this time. When Pike meets her after class, she nods at her and walks ahead of her, leading the way. Pike talks the entire time, about movies and TV shows that Galina doesn’t know anything about but she listens anyway; Pike has learned not to expect much from her, anyway.

She knows music well enough, so she’s able to respond here and there about this or that. But nothing too much; her mind drifts off instead, wondering about what to eat tomorrow. Galina still thinks about food and drinks, even when Pike yells and points to a couple of superheroes fighting some supervillains nearby.

Her head raises and turns toward the direction of the super powered humans, the slightest of wind rustling her neon green hair and she watches as Linneiné and Captain Ten fight off the supervillains. She watches for only a second, before she continues walking and Pike follows after her, in a daze and gaping still at the sight of the superheroes fighting.

“That was so cool!” Pike says. “Holy shit, did you see that, Lina?! Did you!?”

“Yes.” Galina replies. Pike doesn’t seem to pick up on her lack of enthusiasm, but Galina doesn’t care either way.

She keeps going, instead. “Did you see Linneiné, though?! God, I’m so jealous of you—you’re gonna be fighting alongside her in a few years.”

“Okay.”

“I wish I could fly alongside her.” Pike says with a dreamy sigh, awe clear in her voice. “One day, when you’re eighteen, I’m gonna be able to point at the TV and be like, that’s my superhero friend right there!”

“Okay.” Then, “the science museum is ten minutes away.” Galina says, and Pike stares at her in wide-eyed confusion and then with a frown on her face, brows furrowing, and she follows after her when Galina doesn’t show any signs of stopping and explaining her behaviour.

When she catches up to Galina, Pike grabs her elbow and stops her. “Aren’t you excited about being a superhero?” Pike says. “You can even start earlier if you want? Like, I mean, that’s so cool, you know? You could be like… Maghdi. He’s super cool.”

“Okay.” Galina says. “Please let go my elbow, it’s hard to walk like this.” Pike stumbles back and lets go of her in surprise, and Galina continues walking to the science museum.

Pike doesn’t stop pushing about it, however, and Galina doesn’t pay attention to her questions. She does stop talking when they become part of the tour for the museum, and Galina listens attentively to every single thing the guide has to say – her voice enthusiastic and nice – and she tilts her head to the side.

She wants to write a science fiction book someday. Or maybe become an astronaut instead of an author. An astrophysicist. Astrobiologist? Or maybe just an animator. She doesn’t know. She still has three years to decide.

A week later, everyone gets a small little thing that asks them a simple question. _Are you a super powered person?_ They have to write their name down, so that the superheroes of today can come and convince teenagers and children and young adults and even adults at times to become superheroes instead of villains.

Galina doesn’t lie when she puts in a simple ‘yes’. She doesn’t leave her name out, and she makes sure to put her phone and e-mail in like requested. Mr. Miller looks happy when he sees her truthful answer because she shows it to him and then sits back down, her chin resting on the palm of one hand and her eyes staring outside the window.

She completely ignores Mr. Miller when he asks her a question regarding the board, and she gets in trouble for it. She has detention today. But he’s happy with her anyway, and Galina can care less.

Two days later, she is pulled aside by the school principal – Mr. Wagner – and is told that two superheroes are here today to see her. It’s Captain Ten and Miss Wax who see her today, smiling at her brightly like the sun and they look at her with clear approval of her appearance.

She sits across them, fiddles with her backpack on her lap and Miss Wax begins talking. “Galina—I hope you don’t mind me calling you by Galina.”

“I don’t.”

“Well, Galina, I’m Miss Wax,” she says and Galina nods. “If you haven’t heard of me, I’m the one with the power to mold and melt the physical world around me. I love candle wax, which is why I’m called Miss Wax.” She has the gentlest voice one can possibly imagine, as if she doesn’t want to scare Galina away. Her expression remains blank as Miss Wax continues talking. “Captain Ten and I are here to tell you about the superhero program; available for you now, and I promise it won’t interfere with high school… or you can take it before you go to college or afterwards.”

She nods, trying not to shrug in front of Mr. Wagner because she’ll get in deeper trouble if she does. It’s a hassle. Captain Ten begins explaining the program to her then, his words excitable and sincere, and Galina fiddles with her backpack, plays with the zippers, and drinks from her water bottle while he talks. “So, in conclusion,” Captain Ten says finally, “we want to know if you want to join-“

“No.” Galina says. “Not now, not before college, or after.” With that, she puts her water bottle back into her backpack. “I’m going back to class.” Everyone stares at her, bewildered and struck silent, and Galina decides to leave before Mr. Wagner gets angry and decides to punish her for her opinions and actions.

When Mr. Wagner tries to get her to stay afterschool because of what she said today, Galina takes her gloves off and puts her hands on his face and he screams and shoves her away. She falls down, puts her gloves on, and gets off and leaves before Mr. Wagner can even stutter out an apology at his reaction.

She gets regular texts and e-mails from the superhero program, even though she has rejected them, and Galina redirects the e-mails to a new folder so that they don’t fill up her main inbox.

Everyone in school knows how Galina has rejected Captain Ten and Miss Wax, and the attempts at bullying become more and more frequent but it ends every time she places ungloved hands on their cheeks and they scream and run off. At some point, someone tries to cut her hands, but the knife breaks and Galina reports them to the police instead.

Mama and papa are worried, so when she gets home she kisses their cheeks, hugs them close and tells them she loves them in her mother tongue, and then sits down with Alexei, Vera and Inna for dinner. She ruffles Inna’s blonde hair, kisses Alexei’s big forehead, and sits her baby sister, Vera, on her lap and helps her eat.

“I’m glad you rejected the offer.” Papa says. “You’re too young. You have a future.” He sighs and looks at his hands. “But I wish the American kids would stop bothering you about it, Galina.”

“It’s okay, Papa.” Galina beams up at him, smiles at both mama and papa and they smile back at her. “I can deal with it.”

She goes back to paying attention to Vera, plays with her smaller hands and smiles fondly at her baby sister who stares at her gloved hands with confusion and wonder. Galina kisses the top of her head, cradles her close, and Vera gurgles adorably.

One day, someone from the superhero program calls her. “Galina!” she recognises Yukimiko’s voice, clearly. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I know you’re fifteen but we _need_ you here. We need every super powered being with us _now._ All the villains are gonna take all at once, and we need all the help we can get.”

Galina stares at the wall, and Yukimiko waits for her to – patiently – answer, though she can practically feel the urgency on the other end.

There are more superheroes than there are supervillains. There is three-to-one ratio of superheroes to supervillains. Every superhero [and villain] from the world gravitates to USA eventually, and there is no surprise that those who idolise the heroes become one of them at some point.

“No.” Galina says and she hangs up and turns her phone off so that she avoids having to answer any other calls.

She’s only fifteen. In three years, she’s going to go to college. She doesn’t know what she wants to be yet. She’ll know when tomorrow comes.

 

And when tomorrow comes, Galina comes back home from school and witnesses the villains getting ready to attack, witnesses an explosion from miles and miles away occur. When tomorrow comes, the superheroes and villains are fighting already. When tomorrow comes, the heroes are marginally winning and the villains are fighting back with all they have got left.

When tomorrow comes, Galina comes back home to her scared family; she comes back home to Vera crying in mama’s arms, being cradled and kissed by her own crying mama, while papa holds Inna and Alexei close.

Daintily, Galina closes the door behind her.

“Mama, papa,” she calls out, “Alexei, Vera, Inna, I’m going to take us to Brazil.” Her family looks at her with wide eyes. “We’ll come back when everything is okay.”

When tomorrow comes, Galina leaves with her family on a temporary holiday to Brazil.


End file.
